Add another item to the wish list for local healthcare providers. State regulators will soon decide who gets four operating rooms available in Wake County through the 2008 state facilities plan.

Rex Healthcare, WakeMed and Novant submitted proposals to the state on August 15 for available hospitals beds. All three also put in their requests to the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation for operating rooms, as did two independent surgery centers.

Rex Healthcare wants to partner with Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic to build the Triangle's first physician/hospital-owned outpatient surgery center. Hospital officials say the new facility would allow Rex additional capacity to expand other types of surgeries at its main campus.

Southern Surgical, a Durham-based orthopaedic practice, also is hoping to capture the orthopaedic surgery market in its request for the four O.R.s.

WakeMed has requested permission to add two operating rooms to its North campus off Falls of the Neuse Road and two more to its Cary hospital.

Novant Health's plan is to put all four operating rooms at its proposed hospital in Holly Springs.

The fifth competitor is Blue Ridge Day Surgery, a self-described "partnership of local physicians with SCA, a provider of ambulatory surgery services" that currently has six operating rooms in its Raleigh facility.  SCA is located in Birmingham, Alabama.

The state awards the rights for large-scale projects to healthcare providers based on how well they meet the need in the community.   The review process typically takes from 90 to 150 days.